Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'International Year of Astronomy'

This dissertation is an inquiry into the social experiences of first year international graduate students, and how those social experiences inform their academic writing development. Drawing from the sociocognitive perspective (Atkinson, 2002; Lantolf, 2000), this study recognizes that the university is social in nature, and language learning occurs in the mind, body, and world (Atkinson et al., 2007). The international graduate students in this study were recruited from the first quarter academic writing class in fall 2014 (n=113), and were surveyed at four time points throughout the academic year. The dissertation focuses on four students, Luiza from Brazil, Camila from Chile, Q from Korea, and Kira from China as illustrative examples of the social environments that students have as well as trajectories of writing development. The focal students participated in three interviews throughout the year and written texts were also collected at three time points (at the end of the fall, winter, and spring quarters). Findings from the students’ social environments suggest that students tend to gravitate towards co-nationals in social settings. In terms of receiving writing support, students in the study relied primarily of colleagues and friends, followed by professors. Writing tutors and family members were sought out the least for writing support. Peers tended to be more accessible and approachable than professors, while professors were rated as more helpful than peers. In terms of the writing development of the students, this study focuses on clausal, phrasal, and lexical complexity. Findings from the textual analysis portion suggest that the writing of the focal students became more complex based on these measurements. In particular, students generally scored higher on the number of modifiers per noun phrase measure throughout the year, suggesting that their noun phrases were becoming more complex, although there were some deviations to this pattern. Also, students used more words from the academic word list and field specific jargon throughout the year. The implications of this study are relevant to writing professors, STEM professors, international student services, and the university as a whole.

Moustakas (1994) emphasizes that phenomenological study arises from the experiences and passions of the researcher that in turn focus and drive the research. This researcher’s own experiences include a 9-month trip around the world with my family that led me to conduct this study exploring the phenomenon of the family gap year. Existing research focuses on the traditional gap year taken by a young person in between graduation from high school and beginning college. This study seeks to add to that knowledge by exploring the related, but also unique, experience of families who take an extended time period off from career and formal school in order to participate together in a multi-continent international trip. The study addresses why families may decide to take such a trip, what they hope to gain from such an experience and whether or not the trip actually met those expectations. It is also attempts to establish whether or not any changes in family members were identified by participants and believed to be attributable to the experience of the family gap year. Findings from this study indicate that the families examined chose this experience because of a desire to travel and see the world with their children. Subjects agreed that the experience met or exceeded expectations in that it provided a unique opportunity to learn about other peoples and cultures and also provided concentrated time to be together and grow closer as a family. Subjects also however referred to less desirable aspects of the trip related to the maintenance required to keep the family on the road, such as travel planning and laundry. Finally many of the participants in the study referenced learning and personal growth in family members that they attributed to the experience of the family gap year. Together these findings represent an early effort to establish an understanding of the phenomenon of the family gap year.

This study explored international students’ career readiness in a four-year, private university in the Midwest. In order to measure career readiness, the researcher reviewed three factors: financial support, academic major, and country of origin. International students graduating in May 2018 received a survey from the researcher on career readiness. A total of 38 students completed the survey. The final question of the survey was an invitation to participate in an individual interview and/or a focus group. The qualitative data from the survey showed that financial support impacted international students’ career readiness. International students with financial support were more prepared to enter the workforce than students who did not have financial support. Academic majors also impacted career readiness. Students with Business majors pointed out that due to the numerous different fields within the field of Business, it was difficult to show proficiency in one area needed by an employer. Students pursuing other degrees such as Science and Education had a clear idea of the steps to take after graduation and what employers were looking for in new graduates. Country of origin did not have an impact on career readiness as all international students pointed out the difficulties and uncertainties met after graduation due to the immigration restrictions on student and work visas in the United States.

This research study was situated in the policy context of the internationalization of higher education, motivated by the increased presence of culturally and linguistically diverse students in U.S. educational settings and elevated discourses related to student global engagement. It explored the lived experience of 10 second-language (L2) speaking international students enrolled in a mainstream required writing course at a private, urban university in Washington, DC. This study investigated how participants experienced and understood being a part of this required writing course, and more specifically how the thematic nature of the course mediated their experience. This research conceived of a classroom as a socioacademic space, a shared environment where course content and formal academic tasks are combined with mediated social interactions among members of the classroom community. It engaged a hermeneutic phenomenological research approach to tap into both the details of the lived experience and how it was made sense of by the participants who experienced it. Through a series of three interviews, at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester, participants revealed their sociocultural histories, the arc of the lived experience over time, and their reflection on the experience at the end of the semester.

Findings for this study were organized along four major themes: The context for mobility; Entering the first-year writing course: Hopeful but unsure; The negotiation of the FYW experience: Interactions; Reflection on the lived experience: You get what you put in. Findings highlighted the significance of interactions in socioacademic settings, as well as the strategic ways L2 students responded to both the classroom environment and the tasks it required. The course topic was also found to have a strong influence over participants' experiences, though writing clearly occupied more of their attention during the second half of the semester. The findings of this study add dimension to our understanding of this phenomenon; further develop the literature bases of the internationalization of higher education, second-language writing, and first-year writing; and have implications for future research, institutional arrangements and attitudes, and curricular and pedagogical approaches.

The purpose of this study is to examine how out-of-state tuition and fees affects international undergraduate enrollment at U.S. four-year institutions. This study adopts the student demand theory as the theoretical framework to guide the quantitative design of the research. The data source was the Delta Cost Project version of IPEDS. The dependent variable of this study was the total number of international undergraduate enrollment at a four-year institution. The key independent variable was the out-of-state tuition and fees charged by an institution. Additionally, three vectors of variables for measuring the quality of institutional inputs, process, and outputs respectively were added as controls. Analytically, fixed effects regression was conducted to both a full sample data range from 1991 to 2010 and a shorter sample focused on the specific period of 2005-2010. The results of this study suggest international undergraduate students are generally inelastic to the changes of tuition and fees during the last two decades (1991- 2010), but tend to become less inelastic in recent years (2005-2010). However, this general inelastic relationship between international undergraduate enrollment and tuition and fees can vary significantly across different institution types. The findings of this study have important implications to student demand theory, institutional policy-making and future research.

En undersökning av vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008. World Press Photo är världens största fototävling och är prestigefylld att vinna för pressfotografer. Syftet var att undersöka vad de senaste årens bildjournalistik förmedlar till sina betraktare genom nyhetsbilderna som vunnit World Press Photo of the Year under 2000-talet. Syftet har förgrenat sig i frågeställningarna:

Vilka teman har vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008?

Vad förmedlar innehållet i bilderna?

Vad finns det för likheter och skillnader mellan bilderna?

Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning där vi gjort bildanalyser av vinnarbilderna i World Press Photo of the Year mellan 1999-2008. Vi har använt oss av semiotisk och retorisk bildanalys. Resultaten visar att vinnarbilderna som representerar det bästa inom bildjournalistiken visar ett begränsat antal teman, krig, sociala problem och fattigdom samt naturkatastrofer. De flesta bilderna är från Asien och framförallt Mellanöstern. Bilderna är negativt laddade och människorna på bilderna visar oftast sorg och lidande.

Uppsatsens syfte är att utreda huruvida tioårsregeln i 3 kap. 19 § IL strider mot EG-rätten. Vidare undersöks konsekvenserna utav den utvidgade regeln i förhållande till den internationella skatteavtalsrätten.

Avsaknad av total harmonisering inom skatteområdet i EU resulterar i att praxis från EGD är vägledande och av stor vikt för medlemsstaterna. Skatteregler i intern rätt får inte utformas på ett sätt att de strider mot någon av de grundläggande rörelsefriheterna i EG-fördraget.

Tioårsregeln innebär i grova drag att kapitalvinster som uppstår vid avyttring av tillgångar, skall beskattas i Sverige under de tio nästföljande åren efter utflyttning från Sverige. Tioårsregeln i dess tidigare lydelse har inte fungerat ändamålsenligt. Numera omfattar tioårsregeln utländska andelar och delägarrätter om dessa förvärvades under tiden den skattskyldige var obegränsat skattskyldig i Sverige. Tioårsregelns syfte är att hindra skattskyldiga att undandraga den svenska staten skatteintäkter vid utflyttning.

Exitbeskattning är en synonym till utflyttningsbeskattning. Exitskatt avseende kapital innebär att beskattning sker på en orealiserad latent vinst på grund av att den skattskyldige flyttar ut från staten. Tioårsregeln kan sägas vara en typ av exitskatteregel eftersom den grundas på en utsträckt hemvistprincip.

Bestämmelser om exitskatter avseende kapitalvinster är generellt sett svåra att rättfärdiga eftersom en mängd krav ställs för att sådana regler skall betraktas förenliga med EG-rätten. EGD har genom praxis stadgat vissa krav avseende utformning av exitskatteregler. Exitskatter i sig har inte ansetts strida mot EG-rätten, vilket kan utläsas från Lasteyrie-domen. I det senare avgjorda N-målet konstaterades att regler om exitskatt i form av uppskovsbeskattning måste anses godkända av EGD, i alla fall då de inte är förenade med alltför hårda krav för den skattskyldige. För att inte strida mot EG-rätten bör värdenedgångar efter utflyttning beaktas samtidigt som krav på säkerhet och dylikt inte får ställas på den skattskyldige.

Artikel 13 i OECD:s modellavtal gällande kapitalvinster reglerar inte problematiken kring olika staters bestämmelser om kapitalskatt skall tas ut eller på vilket sätt kapitalvinst skall beskattas. Artikeln reglerar i stället hur skatteanspråket avseende kapitalvinst skall fördelas mellan staterna. Det är inte alltför ovanligt att de svenska skatteavtalen skiljer sig från OECD:s modellavtal i vissa avseenden.  Begränsningarna i Sveriges beskattningsrätt innebär ofta en inskränkning i de antal år som Sverige har rätt att beskatta kapitalvinster och/eller att svenska delägarrätter samt andelar endast omfattas av den svenska beskattningsrätten.

Utvidgningen av tioårsregeln är verkningslös eftersom de svenska skatteavtalen är formulerade på ett sätt som leder till att Sverige förhindras att utöva sin beskattningsrätt enligt tioårsregeln, som avtalen föreskriver. Tioårsregeln har inte effektiviserats med hjälp av utvidgningen till att även omfatta utländska andelar på grund av skatteavtalens neutraliserande effekt. Skatteavtalen leder till att tioårsregeln är verkningslös och för att syftet med den utvidgade tioårsregeln skall uppnås måste Sverige omförhandla sina skatteavtal.

Om en skattskyldig person vid utflyttning behandlas negativt av tioårsregeln i jämförelse med en skattskyldig person som fortsätter vara bosatt i Sverige, kan regeln fungera hindrande. Eftersom beskattning av kapitalvinst enligt tioårsregeln sker på samma sätt för den utflyttade personen som för den i Sverige kvarvarande personen föreligger ingen negativ särbehandling, vilket innebär att regeln är förenlig med EG-rätten.

Tioårsregeln bör ersättas av ett system bestående av exitbeskattning med möjlighet till uppskov, vilket vi betraktar som en mer ändamålsenlig lösning. Vår utredning påvisar att förslaget uppnår samma syfte som tioårsregeln strävar efter samtidigt som det framstår förenligt med EG-rätten. Problematiken avseende skatteflykt och skatteundandragande som tioårsregeln kan medföra är dock inte löst i sin helhet i och med det framställda förslaget. Problematiken med skatteflykt och skatteundandragande vid utflyttningssituationer kvarstår så länge Sveriges skatteavtal inte omförhandlas.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the ten-year-rule in chapter 3 section 19 of the Income Tax Law is contrary to EC-law. The consequences of the extended rule in connection with international contract law regarding taxation agreement are furthermore investigated.

The lack of complete harmonization within tax law in the EU brings case law from the European Court of Justice into a position of great importance since it serves as guidance for the member states. Tax rules in national law may not be constructed in a way that is contrary to the right of free movement in the EC-treaty.

A general explanation of the ten-year-rule is that capital gains which arise from disposal of assets shall be subject to Swedish tax during a ten-year period following emigration from Sweden. The former wording of the ten-year-rule has not been working appropriately. The present outline of the ten-year-rule also comprises foreign shares if they were acquired during a period when the taxpayer was liable to unlimited taxation in Sweden. The aim of the ten-year-rule is to hinder taxpayers avoiding paying governmental taxes after emigration.

Exit tax is a synonym for emigration tax. Exit tax regarding capital leads to taxation of gains that has not yet been subject to realization due to the taxpayer’s emigration. The ten-year-rule can be regarded as an exit tax since it is based on an extended domicile principle.

Rules regarding exit tax of capital gains are generally difficult to justify because of the various requirements to be fulfilled in order to comply with EC-law. ECJ has through case law enacted certain requirements regarding construction of exit tax rules in national law. From the judgment of the Lasteyrie-case it can be understood that exit taxes per se is not contrary to EC-law. The later ruled N-case established that exit tax rules supplemented with a possibility of tax deferral has to be considered approved by ECJ, at least when not combined with far too strict requirements for the taxpayer. In order for exit tax rules in national law not to be contrary to EC-law shall rate decrease be considered after emigration and security requirements cannot be demanded.

Article 13 of the OECD's Model Tax Convention regarding capital gains does not regulate if capital gains shall be taxed or in what way capital gains shall be taxed. Instead the article regulates how the tax claim regarding capital gains shall be divided between the contractual parties. It is not uncommon that the Swedish taxation agreements are in some aspects different from the Model Tax Convention. Limitations of the Swedish tax claim often leads to restriction in the time period in which Sweden has the right to confer taxation of capital gains and/or that Swedish shares only are included in the Swedish tax claim.

The extension of the ten-year-rule is ineffective since the Swedish taxation agreements are constructed in a way that leads to Sweden being prevented from practicing the tax claim according to the ten-year-rule which the agreement prescribes. The extension to also include foreign shares in the ten-year-rule has not made the rule more efficient due to the neutralizing effect of the taxation agreements. The Swedish taxation agreements affect the ten-year-rule to become inoperative and in order for the extended rule to be effective, Sweden has to renegotiate the agreements.   

If an emigrating taxpayer is treated in a less favorable manner in comparison with a taxpayer keeping its residence in Sweden due to the ten-year-rule, the rule can be considered as a hindrance. Since taxation of capital gains in accordance with the ten-year-rule is conducted in the same manner for the emigrating person as for the person remaining in Sweden, no derogatory treatment exists which means that the rule is compatible with EC-law.

The ten-year-rule should be replaced by a system consistent of exit tax rules combined with an opportunity for tax deferral, which we consider to be an appropriate solution. Our investigation demonstrates that this solution achieves the same purpose as the ten-year-rule is striving for at the same time as it seems to be in compliance with EC-law. The difficulty regarding tax avoidance and tax evasion that the ten-year-rule might contribute to is however not completely solved by this presented solution. The problem regarding tax avoidance and tax evasion remains as long as Swedish taxation agreements are not renegotiated.